Objective

To enhance the quality of tourism services, businesses, and products through industry development. Market ready products deliver memorable, value-added, quality products and experiences that meet and exceed the expectations of visitors.

Eligible Projects

Examples of industry development activities that support this objective and acheive market-readiness. Projects that may be considered are:

1 Initiatives aimed at improving the quality of tourism services, businesses and products.

• Study Tours/Best Practice Missions Development and support for tourism operators and industry to participate on study tours and best practice missions to other destinations designed to expose operators to successful development and marketing models.
• Seminars, Workshops, Conferences, Professional Development Development and delivery of education and training programs to enable professional skill enhancement of tourism operators and front-line staff. The programs will be based on strategic business topics/business practices. (e.g., package development, interpretation planning, risk management, technology and best business practices, customer service, experience development, etc.)
• Mystery Shop Assessments Analysis and assessment of service and performance by sectors or groups of tourism businesses and attractions.
• Mentoring Professional guidance to provide advice and on-going mentoring to improve market-readiness of sectors or groups of tourism services and businesses.

2 Enhancement for communities and destinations
Initiatives may be considered for support in enhancing the market-readiness of
communities/destinations:

• Strategic Community Tourism Planning Assistance to retain professional services to assist in the development of a strategic community tourism plan. Communities for consideration would be those that have a Tourism Destination Area Plan or are in the Tourism Destination Area process.
• Community Market-readiness Assessments Professional third party assessments of a communities tourism products and experiences, visitor amenities/services, and overall market-readiness from the visitor’s perspective.

  Other initiatives that address industry development may be considered.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants for this program include:

1 Non-commercial/not-for-profit organizations (e.g., local development associations,
industry associations, sector associations;, municipalities or incorporated
towns/villages; or other entities undertaking not-for-profit initiatives.

2 Private sector operators and front-line staff of private sector operations are eligible
through their participation in these market-readiness initiatives. There is an
opportunity for a consortium of private sector tourism operators to take the lead on a group initiative. Private sector partners must be able to demonstrate the benefits of the project for the broader industry.

Eligible costs include: Professional services, meeting expenses, travel expenses, registration fees, and incremental administration.

Ineligible costs include: Capital and operating costs, industry participation time. This program does not provide direct financial assistance for business start-up, capital and operating costs of individual business operations.

Level of Investment

Decisions based on achieving the strategic priorities of the annual Tourism Plan. The Tourism Industry Development program will consider up to a maximum 75% of eligible costs with the balance coming from the applicant and other non-government sources. Total government (i.e., federal and provincial) investment can not exceed 75% of the total project cost.

Applicants are expected to secure at least 25% of total eligible costs. The 25% applicant contribution can be comprised of cash and in-kind contributions from local fund-raising initiatives, municipal contributions, and other community organizations. No more that half (50%) of the applicant’s contribution can be in-kind.

Please note that in-kind contributions will be considered only to offset measurable, incremental costs that are necessary to make the project possible.

Application Process

1 Determine whether or not the project addresses the specific actions outlined in the
annual Tourism Plan

2 Contact Tourism Development Staff to discuss your project idea and/or determine
eligibility to participate.

3 Discuss your project with your Regional Tourism Industry Association, Regional Development Authority, and municipality to ensure it is compatible with regional strategic tourism efforts.

4 Based on feedback from Tourism Development staff, prepare a project proposal and complete the application form as per attached guidelines and submit the proposal to the Tourism Division Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage for formal review and evaluation.

5 Tourism Development staff will review and evaluate your proposal. Recommended projects are subject to final departmental approval.

Criteria and Evaluation

Only those projects that demonstrate their ability to achieve the strategic thrusts of the annual Tourism Plan and fit with the Nova Scotia Brand will be considered. As this is a competitive process, projects are scored based on their ability to meet the following criteria, as well as demonstrate environmentally sustainable practices.

Does your proposal cover the following?

• Identified in tourism destination development plan
  Does the project address specific actions outlined in a Destination
  Development Plan? Will the project result in increased visitation or extended
  length of stay in a destination?
• Linked to strategic actions
  Does the project address specific actions within the linkage to the Tourism
  Plan and Brand for tourism? Does your project reflect our Tourism Brand
  (reflect in proposal under: Project Description and Linkage to Tourism Plan
  and Brand)?
• Enhances market-readiness
  Will the project enhance product market-readiness? (Reflect in proposal
  under: Project Description and Expected Results)
• Market demand/potential
  Does the target market require a quality level of the product or experience
  that requires the training/educational initiative outlined in the project
  description?
• Targets key markets
  Does the product target key markets as described in the Tourism Plan?
  (Reflect in the proposal under: Marketing Plan and Linkage to Tourism Plan)
• Financially do-able
  Is the project financially feasible? Is there a reasonable business
  operations plan in place to support this initiative? Will the opportunity be
  affordable to industry participants? A portion of the costs associated with
  participating in the education/training initiative must be paid by the individual
  participants. Are the participants aware of the cost and are there enough
  participants able to afford it to make the opportunity feasible?
  
• Leveraging Funding
  Has the applicant been successful in securing required funding from other partners?
• Return-on-investment potential
  Is the investment in the project likely to yield the desired revenues (return on
  investment)? (Reflect in proposal under: Expected Results, Project Financing,
  and Management/Guarantee Ongoing Operations)

For more information on these tourism development investment programs contact:

Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism
Tourism Division
Development and Planning
1800 Argyle Street
Suite 603
PO Box 456
Halifax, NS
B3J 2R5

T (902) 424-3908
F (902) 424-0723
E-mail